Direct High-Speed Rail Links Ruijin and Yan'an Across Three Provinces

China launched its first direct high-speed passenger train between Ruijin in Jiangxi province and Yan'an in Shaanxi province on September 6, 2026. The maiden G3998 Fuxing bullet train departed Ruijin at 11:02 a.m. and arrived at Yan'an at 10:34 p.m., cutting the transit across Jiangxi, Hubei, and Shaanxi to eleven and a half hours. The cross-line service connects multiple regional railways, including the newly opened Xi'an-Shiyan section, establishing same-day transit between two historically prominent revolutionary base areas.

The route eliminates the need for multi-leg rail transfers between interior hubs in Jiangxi and northern Shaanxi, reducing transit across central and western China to a single daytime journey. By linking existing corridors with newly built segments, the operational model illustrates how national rail operators can expand cross-regional network utility through timetable integration, promoting inter-provincial mobility and domestic tourism without requiring dedicated end-to-end trunk construction.

China launched its first direct high-speed train service connecting Ruijin in Jiangxi province with Yan'an in Shaanxi province on September 6, 2026, establishing a same-day rail link between two historically significant interior cities. The inaugural G3998 Fuxing intelligent high-speed train departed Ruijin Station at 11:02 a.m. and arrived at Yan'an Station on schedule at 10:34 p.m., completing the cross-country transit in eleven hours and 32 minutes, according to reports from China News Service and Xinhua. The straight-line distance between the two locations exceeds 1,300 kilometers. The journey marks the first direct rail connection between Ruijin, widely recognized as the cradle of the Chinese Soviet Republic and the departure point of the Red Army's Long March in 1934, and Yan'an, the primary destination where Communist forces subsequently consolidated power. The service operates as an ultra-long cross-line route rather than a single continuous corridor, according to Ye Ronggen, deputy director of the passenger transport department at China Railway Nanchang Group. The service connects multiple high-speed rail sections traversing Jiangxi, Hubei, and Shaanxi provinces. The through-service was finalized following the opening of the Xi'an-Shiyan high-speed railway on June 30, which closed a critical gap between the Hubei and Shaanxi rail networks, alongside existing infrastructure such as the Nanchang-Ganzhou and Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed lines. Developing the underlying network required navigating complex geological conditions across western China. For instance, the Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway features a bridge-and-tunnel ratio of 91 percent, requiring engineers to excavate tunnels through soft, collapsible loess formations that posed persistent stability risks during construction, according to project managers from China Railway 20th Bureau. Descendants of Long March veterans and local residents boarded the maiden voyage, accompanied by regional officials framing the connection as a spiritual and practical link for former revolutionary base areas. Railway authorities indicated that the integrated cross-line scheduling aims to support passenger mobility, regional coordination, and local tourism across the three interior provinces.